Welcome to another confusticating episode of Session Impressions, a Myriad Games Presentation.
In this episode, Jeff, Brian, JM, and Dan discuss Guardians of Graxia, designed by Daniel Kroegel, Chuck Kroegel, and George Chastain; with art Gary Cox, Kerem Beyit, and Lynne Gura, published by Petroglyph.
Your feedback is very important to us. Please email us through MyriadGames.com with your comments, questions, suggestions, abuse, and general ridicule.
If you enjoy our shows, we encourage you to post a positive review on iTunes and email us through MyriadGames.com We'll even send you a complimentary pair of Myriad Games six-sided dice as a token of our appreciation for your support!
Thanks for listening and have fun playing!
Presenter: Chip Bowles
There is really nothing Funny about this: This program addresses issues important to retailers, including a discussion of testing requirements, documentation and possible defenses for accidental violations of the Act.
In today's show we compare convention games to home games and give some great tips for running especially convention games.
Some of the games brought up in the discussion include Universalis, Burning Wheel, Blood Bowl, and All for One: Regime Diabolique.
We also share a bit about RinCon over Columbus Day weekend in Tucson, Arizona. You must join us!
Extend your The Settlers of Catan games to include more players and more scenarios. Extensions are explained for The Settlers of Catan, Catan: Seafarers, Catan: Cities & Knights, and Catan: Traders & Barbarians.
* (0:57) Fear the Con 4 dates have been set! The convention will be on March 18th and 19th of 2011. Wing Night will be the night before on March 17th. Both will be held at the same location as last year: Memorial Hall for the con and Syberg’s for the Wing Night.
* (1:40) Be sure to check out the two Gen Con podcasts we participated in: Chris and Wayne on the Pulp Gamer Media Network live recording and Dan’s talk with the Amorphous Blobcast.
* (3:07) Cape Rust did a very kind review of our show in addition to great articles he’s written on gaming in the military (part 1 and part 2), LARPing (part 1 and part 2), and other subjects for Geek Life.
* (4:04) The Gamer Image Game. Does your geek self-image line up with how you actually spend your time and money? And if not, why not?
* (18:07) Why Pat and Dan have no sympathy for people with hard to pronounce names.
* (19:10) Puzzles and riddles in roleplaying games. How to design, integrate, and present them to the players while avoiding the common sources of frustration.
Hosts: Dan, Johann, Pat, Wayne
Make your move already. Today's topic is about keeping the game moving and making those tough decisions in a timely manner. The games we spotlight in today's show include Hecho, Alibi, and Tigris & Euphrates.
BGB is back with a session review show about some terrific newish games. Tasty Minstrel burst onto the scene last year with Homesteaders. Longshot was brewing in designer Chris Handy's mind for years before Z-Man brought it out last year. Court of the Medici is a game published by Z-Man and developed by SORVENT. All three are discussed and I also share some comments about the passing of Kevin Pimental, a terrific gamer and friend from the SoCal board games community.
Show Notes
Homesteaders Longshot Court of the Medici
Gateway 2010 is just a few days away - and tonight is your last night to pre-register. This show is going to be big and there are awesome things happening. It's so big we had to get TWO Guests of Honor. You won't want to miss it. And, with apologies to David Letterman, here are my top ten reasons why I think you should be there or be triangle (hexagons are cooler).
#10 - New Game Demos: Learn Rattus, Fictionaire, Road Kill Rally, Tales of the Arabian Nights, Chaos, Dweebies, Sturgeon, Nile, Them Pesky Humans and many more games from our crack team of demonstrators.
#9 - Boardgame Library - Come play hundreds of games from our library - you don't need to lug games from home! New additions include the games above plus Tobago, Krysis, Dream Factory, Magical Athlete, Age of Conan, Code 777 (pre-release copy!), and more!
#8 - Rio Grande Design Contest: For the second year in a row, Gateway is hosting a game design contest for Rio Grande and this year, if you choose to help playtest, you'll be shoulder-to-shoulder with our judging panel of great designers. Help us send the best games to Chicago to compete! Sunday afternoon - see Norv Brooks to sign up.
#7 - Playtest Pirate Fluxx: Andy Looney, one of our Guests of Honor, will show you the latest Fluxx game coming soon!
#6 - Party Game Challenge with prizes from Stronghold Games - Our Party Game Challenge is back - a weekend-long event where players earn points playing in both party game tournaments and in open gaming party game play. You have a chance to win a pre-release copy of Code 777 or other cool party game prizes! Also, don't miss the Fictionaire Tournament on Saturday at 1 PM - a new party game from Days of Wonder. The winner of the tournament will take home an exclusive Fictionaire Tin with all four decks of this cool new game. Code 777 and Fictionaire count as triple-points so you will definitely want to try them out!
#5 - Board Game Seminars - Come hear the latest from Looney Labs at 9:00 PM Friday (there may be Pop Tarts). Then stay for a live recording of Boardgame Babylon with Tom Lehmann "Race For The Galaxy: In Depth" at 10:00 PM (there may be additional special guests) and then come out for Tom Lehmann's Q&A session on Saturday morning at 11:00 AM.
#4 - VIP Reception on Friday night - The second hottest ticket of the weekend will be the VIP reception at 7 PM. Dinner is included (and a separate entry fee). Hobnob with our Guests of Honor and many other Special Guests to start off the con right.
#3 - Back To The Future Launch Event - Looney Labs is debuting their game celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Back to the Future movie series at Gateway 2010. There is a launch event on Saturday at 2pm and demos throughout the weekend.
#2 - Andy Versus Everybody! - You won't want to miss the chance to challenge Andy Looney to a game while he's playing against a room of people. Andy will take on all comers on Sunday at 4pm! Be in the center of the ballroom and join in the fun.
#1 - Pandemic: Mass Outbreak! You simply cannot miss Tom Lehmann's awesome Pandemic LARP game. 35-60 people will participate in this awesome game designed for the Z-Man 10th Anniversary at GenCon. Tom and his cohorts will be running it here on Saturday from 2-6p in the Top of the Radisson bar. So, sign up and have a blast saving the planet from a raging pandemic! More info: http://www.strategicon.net/index.php?goto=special_events
More info: www.strategicon.net
See you at the con!
It's sometimes the props that makes the play. We talk about those pieces and parts that do it for you.
Some of the games in today's show include Catan 3D, Thunderstone, and Agricola.
Welcome to our 101st Myriad Games Presentation.
In this episode of Table Talk, we discuss a ton of updates from Gen Con 2010 including a conversation about Deck Building Games and how the format of roleplaying games is changing. Enjoy!
Your feedback is very important to us. Please email us through MyriadGames.com with your comments, questions, suggestions, abuse, and general ridicule.
If you enjoy our shows, we encourage you to post a positive review on iTunes and email us through MyriadGames.com We'll even send you a complimentary pair of Myriad Games six-sided dice as a token of our appreciation for your support!
Thanks for listening and have fun playing!
Presenter: Chip Bowles
There is really nothing Funny about this: This program addresses issues important to Game publishers and Importers, including a discussion of testing requirements, documentation and possible defenses for accidental violations of the Act.
* (0:19) The role of online communities in finding, building, and sustaining an audience. If you’re interested in Dragonlance, be sure to check out the Dragonlance Nexus.
* (3:44) The value of art, entertainment, and ideas on the internet. Why free may not always be the best price. Tracy’s plan for nurturing new authors in this environment. As a side note, Wayne’s serial fiction is being released weekly on the Skies of Glass website.
* (14:34) Tracy’s experience of co-authoring with his wife. The importance of a continual feedback loop in the creative process. The struggles of writing and the joys of having written.
* (19:43) The Dragonlance movie. Watching other people take over your creative properties, and the “original bad deal” that gets you published.
* (25:17) Whether Tracy ever plans to do anything more that’s directly in the RPG market. His new book series, starting with Song of the Dragon.
* (29:20) What’s up with the dragons? That question leads into a discussion on the monomyth, cognitive dissonance, and the human penchant for narrative.
Hosts: Chad, Dan, Pat, Wayne
Guest: Tracy Hickman
Don’t forget to get signed up for the special offer of Dragon’s Bard using the discount code found here! This offer is only open through September 15th.

Delve deep into Catan! In Catan: Traders & Barbariansâ„¢ you'll find lots of cool new ways to explore Klaus Teuber's award-winning game series. You can now play with just 2 players! Add a harbormaster, a friendly robber, or special events. Play with a wealth of new wooden pieces and capabilities.
You can even link your games to create an intriguing campaign. Use these 4 variants and 5 scenarios to reinvent your Catan experience!
Presenter: John Ward, Executive Director
In Fall of 2009 the GAMA Board of Directors proposed a draft of strategic planning for the association. This seminar is a chance for our members to hear the results of our planning process and the progress GAMA has made thus far.
GenCon 2010 is over and we've got some exciting stuff to talk about from our visit. The boys discuss their entire adventure during an extended Achievements in Gaming. What they played, what was the new hotness, and highlights.
If you're still with us after all that, be sure to catch Raef and Russ interviewing Matt Wilson. Matt brings us up to speed with his pet projects, i.e. movies and video games. And gives us the Privateer Press state of the union, er, pirates.
That should be enough, but why stop there? Total Fan Girl interviews the cast of The Guild, and we have LIVE FROM GENCON: It's Play by Mob.
All that and our other not-too-horrible segments including:
- Rapid Fire
- The Hollywood Minute
- The News
- Do You Ever Notice
- & More
If you'd like to discuss the show with us and others in our forum thread: click here.
The following fine organizations help make this show possible:
Myriad Games, on behalf of friendly, professional gaming stores everywhere.
==Quick Reference==
The News: 1 hr 55 min
Matt Wilson Interview: 2hr 0 min
Hollywood Minute: 2hr 41min
Total Fan Girl interviews The Guild: 2 hr 59 min
Play by Mob: 3 hr 12 min
Links Discussed in the show:
GenCon Photo Album: http://hashalbum.com/tgngc?page=1
Craig's Bookshelf: Link
Raef's Blog: Link
Craig's Blog: Link
Total Fan Girl Blog: Link
Pulp Gamer Network: Link
Times are changing, and not just with the season. Our new web site is looking sexy and is especially better suited now for video. We have some part time job openings for someone here in Tucson to do some video work, some writing, or some community development. Ron is looking for a job and he should not have any problem as he is a great catch. The Professional Game Store Association has been founded to serve hobby game retailers, as reported by icv2. Minion Games is new on the scene, and we had already mentioned our friends at Sandstorm Productions.
We also talked about Rin Con, Ruthless Diastema Games, the How Stuff Works Blog, gamersgather.com, and Inferno.
Don't forget to catch our interviews on TomG's blog, Go Forth and Game.